Mashed Potatoes In A Box

[learning2BGF]

Hi! I am still experiencing foods for the first time after becoming completely gluten-free. I ate a small serving of instant mashed potatoes tonight (that I did not make), and I started feeling gassy only a half hour or so afterwards. I am allergic to gluten, and dairy. There must be one of those ingredients in that instant mashed potato mix. Does anyone know for sure if that is true?

[Jestgar]

Unless they were made in the same pot that's used to make pasta.

[ciamarie]

I have some instant potatoes (honest earth) that I can't eat due to sulfites (used in processing), and the ingredients are: potatoes, butter and sea salt. So quite possibly there was some dairy in yours.

[pricklypear1971]

I suggest reading the ingredients.

Potatoes are a vegetable, but are considered a starch and are high in carbs. High starch/carbs give lots of people gas.

Doesn't mean the boxed potatoes didnt contain gluten, but I'd check the ingredients. Don't assume it was gluten (like you shouldn't assume a procrssed food is gluten-free).

[bridgetm]

Instant as in potato flakes? Some brands add milk. Ask the person who made them what kind it was? When buying instant potatoes yourself, compare brands and take the one with the fewest ingredients. Some contain just potatoes and a few preservatives while others add flavoring or ingredients to make them "light and fluffy."

However, CC is a likely possibility whenever you eat something made by someone else, whether the pot is used for other things, like Jestgar suggested, or the cook had gluten-y foods going at the same time and dropped some flour or dipped the wrong spoon by accident.

[Juliebove]

Mashed potatoes from a box made as directed will contain dairy. You are supposed to put in milk and butter or margarine. Yes, you can get margarine without dairy but most contains it. Some mashed potatoes already have the milk and/or butter right in the mix.

So unless the person who made them knew that you couldn't have dairy and actually knew what dairy was (most people assume that margarine is always dairy free), you consumed dairy.

I have some mashed potatoes in front of me now that are dairy free. I just used water intstead of the milk and Nucoa margarine. Because they are lacking in flavor this way, I added a bit more Nucoa and more salt and pepper. You can also use rice/soy/almond milk or vegetable/chicken/beef broth in place of the milk. I don't happen to usually care for how they come out when I do that. However the mashed potatoes that they used to put in the Ian's kid's meals were da bomb! They used rice milk in those. I always wished I could buy just the potatoes. And then they changed to the Alphatots which are good but I don't like them as much as I liked the potatoes.

There is also a very good chance that the person who made them cross contaminated you. Even if they did use a safe margarine, how do you know they didn't use that same margarine on some wheat bread and then got little crumbs in it?

[ravenwoodglass]

I like Paradise mashed potatoes. The only ingredient is potatos. Most including those have you add milk. If you are intolerant of casien (milk protein) almost all butter replacements have casien and or soy. Real butter however is safe for most who are dairy intolerant. I've used it for years since I found that out and had no problems. It is very, very low in both casien and lactose. There is also ghee which is clarified butter which is lactose and casien free. My mom used to make her own by melting the butter and then just skimming the clear stuff, the ghee, off the top. If the meal was made in someone else's kitchen chances are pretty high you were CC'd.

[cap6]

The instant stuff isn't really that nutritious bu if you really want some (and they sure are fast!) some of the Idahoan poachages say gluten free on them. just read them as a couple of kinds are not ok.